Dominique de Villepin turned into comic-book hero

Dominique de Villepin, France's flamboyant former prime minister, has become
the unlikely hero of an acclaimed comic-book that he hopes will boost his
presidential chances against Nicolas Sarkozy.

Image 1 of 2

Alexandre Taillard de Worms.

Image 1 of 2

Dominique de VillepinPhoto: AP

Henry Samuel in Paris

10:32PM BST 01 Jun 2010

Quai d'Orsay, out this month, is a hilariously acerbic but accurate portrait of life in the French foreign ministry under a certain Alexandre Taillard de Worms.

The tall, silver-haired aristocrat is a whirlwind of movement; he rushes around fighting global diplomatic fires, while pontificating on French poetry, Greek philosophy, and his irrational love of Stabilo marker pens.

There is no doubt about the true identity of the Worms character: Mr de Villepin, who was in charge of French diplomacy under Jacques Chirac from 2002-4.

His cartoon alter ego exhausts but fascinates his ministerial entourage, who are never quite sure whether he has lost the plot entirely or is a visionary genius.

“The art of diplomacy is not to stay in your armchair. You mustn’t be scared of the flame. I leap into the flame. I become the flame,” he exclaims to his baffled young aide, who is advised to take inspiration from Baudelaire, the poet. “But minister, this is a political speech, not a university viva,” he replies.

It may sound far-fetched, but Quai d’Orsay, which has already sold 30,000 copies since its launch on May 7, is meticulously based on fact, as its co-author worked as Mr de Villepin’s scriptwriter or “language adviser” for five years.

Abel Lanzac (a pseudonym, as he refuses to be named), mimed real scenes and dialogues from ministerial life and the illustrator Christophe Blain sketched them into cartoons. These include Mr de Villepin’s finest hour in French eyes: his impassioned 2003 United Nations speech opposing the US-led Iraq invasion.

The authors say the second volume will include unprecedented and “unexpected” details of negotiations between France, Britain and the US ahead of the UN showdown.

Swashbuckling it may be, but the book is far from a hagiography, as the Villepin character teeters from the sublime to the ridiculous. By the end, his young protégé is unsure whether he works for an intergalactic superhero or Darth Vader.

But despite its ambiguities, Mr de Villepin has decided to take the album as a huge compliment, giving a string of interviews on the subject.

“I found the drawings very telling, very strong and the dialogues some of the best descriptions I have read, heard or seen of life inside a ministry,” he said last week, without a trace of irony.

Mr Blain told the Daily Telegraph that he and his co-author were “surprised” at Mr de Villepin’s positive reaction, given that “most French journalists told me it was a devastating portrait in which he came across as a loony”, but that it proved the comic-book was nuanced.

Mr de Villepin, who was recently cleared of seeking to smear President Nicolas Sarkozy, his arch-rival, is hoping to kick-start his political career on June 19, when he will launch his new party.

Provisionally called For a Republic of Solidarity, he intends to use it to run for President in 2012 against Mr Sarkozy, himself the butt of countless satirical comic-strips. The most popular to date is a vitriolic four-album series on his ascent and reign starting with La Face Karchée de Sarkozy (The Hidden Face of Sarkozy Stripped Bare). Co-written by the country’s best-known investigative journalist, it has sold more than 500,000 copies. Mr Villepin said the first tome was a bedside favourite.

France, birthplace of Asterix, takes its bandes dessinées, (French for comic-strips), very seriously. Last year, 40 million albums were sold and the medium is considered an art form in its own right.